For those like me, I had no idea about a game called Minion Masters even though it had been out in early access since 2016. As with many games, it can feel pretty daunting to jump into something that has already been around for some time and built up a community of players who know what they are doing. So how do we make it seem more inviting? Well, first off, having a promotional deal where certain items and skins in the game are free is a great place to start, as they did just a few weeks ago. But what really helps is a super onboarding program and helpful community.
Before we talk about their helpful strategies, let’s talk game basics. Minion Masters is a love child between a tower defense and card based strategy game. You pick a character with unique perks and build a deck of 10 cards that act as spells and creatures you spawn. You play against another character, where you each have a base, where each player summons minions towards each other to attack until one of the sides is destroyed. There is much more to it then that as well, including the need to control bridges between the bases for experience, understanding which minions are better against which, and dealing with the unique perks each character gets as they level up. Then add six different game modes, about 200 different cards and rotating seasons and the game can be overwhelming at first glance.
This is where a proper introduction to the game is very much appreciated. It begins by holding a fake tournament; where you face a computer, and various elements are taught to you during each round of the tournament. Spoon feeding you each mechanic step by step makes it quick to pick up and easy to retain when jumping into the real battles against foes around the world. Once this is done, they then direct you in the form of quests to understand each different game mode, giving you benefits to playing each one in a certain order based on complexity.
Game tutorials alone are not what sold me on this game being great for newbies. In the shop, there are multiple ways to get little freebies in the game, such as signing up for their discord or newsletter. If you plan on getting into this, I highly recommend signing up for both.
The newsletter, specifically, gives you insights to tips and tricks for both playing the game and how things, like the league system, is structured. They also set it up in a cute manner where for the first week or so, you will get daily emails with those tips and free cards to help build out your collection. The emails will even let you know with messages like “Tomorrow I am going to email you another free unlockable…” Although I generally have no interest in going through a cluttered inbox, getting those emails was always a joyous occasion to see what new item I would get along with something about the game I might not have picked up on yet.
The community also seems to be pretty helpful with a fairly active discord and sub reddit. I especially like the Discord servers that will set audio and text channels just for the purpose of people to meet and team up together. I have seen, in the few weeks that I have been playing, various members reach out to the community to find someone to play with, which is great to see!
I won’t say I’m an expert in this game based on their onboarding techniques, by any means, but I will say that I have definitely learned a lot more with the helpful content out there. If you haven’t had a chance to check this one out, give it a chance! It implements the perfect blend of fast paced but strategic mechanics that leads me to keep going “Just one more round!” late at night. And, if anything, at least you will learn right away if this is the game for you.
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